The Kolmani Integrated Development Project’s commercial production of gas and crude oil was officially launched on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Kolmani project, with Oil Prospecting Licence 809 and 810, is situated in the Upper Benue Trough’s Gongola Basin and crosses the borders of the two Northern states, Gombe and Bauchi.
The field, according to its proponents, is expected to begin producing roughly 50,000 barrels of crude oil per day and possesses more than one billion barrels of reserves, bringing Nigeria’s oil reserves to over 38 billion barrels.
The facility drew $3 billion in investments, according to Buhari, who spoke at the occasion, despite the oil sector’s lack of interest.
He said, “Considering the land locked location and the huge capital requirement, the economics of the project is a challenging proposition.
“Consequently, from the onset, I instructed NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company) Limited to utilise and leverage their vast asset portfolio across all corridors of its operations to de-risk the project to attract the much-needed investment. I have directed NNPC to continue along these lines.
“It is, therefore, to the credit of this administration that at a time when there is near zero appetite for investment in fossil energy, coupled with the location challenges, we are able attract investment of over $3bn to this project.”
Buhari described the ceremony as important in the economic history of Nigeria, “as we move closer to production of oil and gas in the Upper Benue Trough, specifically, the Kolmani River oil and gas field, straddling Bauchi and Gombe states.”
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